1. Fig. 5 Conceptual diagrams showing the effects of elephants, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros on ecosystems.
Conceptual diagrams showing the effects of elephants, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros on ecosystems. (A) African elephants (L. africana) convert woodland to shrubland (53), which indirectly improves the browse availability for impala (A. melampus) (53) and black rhinoceros (D. bicornis minor) (54). By damaging trees, African elephants facilitate increased structural habitat complexity benefiting lizard communities (100). Predation by large predators (for example, lions) on small ungulates is facilitated when African elephants open impenetrable thickets (48). African elephants are also great dispersers of seeds over long distances (13). (B) Hippopotamus (H. amphibius) maintain pathways in swamps, leading to new channel systems (101). Areas grazed by hippopotamus are often more nutritious, which benefits kob (K. kob) (55). Mutualism and semiparasitism between hippopotamus and birds have also been shown, via the latter eating insects on hippopotamus (73). (C) White rhinoceros (C. simum) maintain short grass patches in mesic areas, which increases browse for other grazers (impalas, wildebeests, C. taurinus, and zebra, Equus burchelli) and changes fire regimes (71).
William J. Ripple et al. Sci Adv 2015;1:e
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